5 BR 3 BA
by Laura Louisa Lewis
Summary: Season 1, Episode 20, "All That Glitters": Frank told Danny and Erin that after Jamie was born, Mary and he tried to move them into one bedroom. The next day, they began looking for a larger house. This is the story of that house hunt. #3 in the There's a Story Behind That series.
1. Chapter 1

_Hello Readers! You can thank the nasty little upper respiratory virus known locally as The Crud for this story. I spent two sick days watching lots of Blue Bloods on Thursday and HGTV house-hunting shows on Friday, and the idea for this story was born. Enjoy!_

* * *

 _Some dialogue in this chapter taken from the Season One episode, "All That Glitters."_

* * *

It had been another lively Sunday dinner, full of discussion about eyewitness identification and its role in finding a suspect in the murder of a tourist, and what a criminal looked like, and landing back on Pierre, the unfortunate man identified as the murderer of that tourist. Good points had been made and lessons taught to the younger generation. And then, as usual, Danny and Erin took it too far, and Erin quickly left the table to start cleaning up.

A few minutes later, Frank followed his daughter into the kitchen, hoping to have a conversation with Erin. He knew the recent release on a technicality of a murderer she'd convicted was weighing on her. But there was Danny again, deliberately getting in Erin's way, slamming the cabinet doors, doing anything he could to show that their fight was still ongoing.

"I like these cabinets. They're original to the house. Cool it." Frank ordered.

That put a stop to the cabinet slamming, but not the silent fight. Frank sighed. Maybe it was time for a round of 'Tell Judge Reagan' to settle the argument. "I know you two supposed to be all grown up, but humor me here." He asked both children to explain their positions on Pierre's innocence or guilt.

And once they had both had their say, and Erin had halfway admitted that her desire for Pierre to be guilty was at least partially the result of that other murderer going free, and Danny had sort of admitted that he didn't have evidence to prove any one else was guilty of the tourist's murder, they had come to an agreement. Danny would work to prove that someone else was the murderer, and Erin would hold off on indicting Pierre.

Frank nodded. "Well." Another argument resolved. Although, to judge from the way Danny and Erin were leaning against the kitchen island with their backs to each other, they weren't ready to make nice just yet. So similar to the way they had fought when they were children. Quick to the temper; slow to cool down. Especially during that short time they had been roommates.

Frank picked up his coffee mug. "You know, when Jamie was born, we tried to move you two into the same room. You remember that?"

Danny grinned and glanced backward toward his sister. Of course he remembered that fiasco.

Erin looked down at the floor. "Sort of." Most of what she remembered was fighting with Danny.

 **"** We couldn't afford it, but the very next day your mom and I started looking for a bigger house."

Danny and Erin shared a brief glance. Had it only taken one night for their parents to make that decision?

"True story." Now that those two were on the path to being civil to each other, it was time to check in with the rest of the family. Frank headed out of kitchen before he got roped into helping Erin with the clean-up work.

-BB-BB-

Later that evening, after the family members had left for their own homes and Frank and Henry had settled into their chairs in the living room, Henry looked over at his son. "Francis, there's something I've been meaning to ask you for years. I heard you reminding Erin about sharing a room with Danny. Did you really think those two sharing a small space was going to work?"

Frank smiled slightly. "I didn't, no. Mary thought it might work, or that it might force the two of them to get along. She shared a room with her younger brother, when she was nine and he was seven."

"That would be Brian?"

"Brian. She told me the two of them argued like Danny and Erin, but sharing a space changed their relationship. Made them better siblings. We thought the same thing might happen for our two."

Henry shook his head. "What I would've given to be a fly on the wall when you told them about your plan."

"You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar," Frank stated. "That's why we had a pizza dinner that night. We though the news would go over better after their favorite meal…"

TBC


	2. Chapter 2 - Rearranging

**Chapter 2 – Rearranging**

"Mommy, thanks for making tonight pizza night," Joe Regan said right before he stuffed the last of his slice of cheese pizza into his mouth."

"Yeah, thanks, Mom," Erin agreed as she finished off the last of her slice.

Frank glanced over at his oldest son. "Danny?"

"I'm glad you got pizza. Just wondering why, on Thursday night," Danny commented.

Frank and Mary exchanged a glance. Danny always had been a suspicious child. For once, his suspicions were not unfounded. "We wanted to discuss something with all of you."

The three oldest children looked up at their parents. "Like what?" Danny asked.

Frank looked over at three-month-old Jamie, who was contentedly gumming a piece of pizza crust. "Your mother and I have decided it's time to move Jamie out of our bedroom. Which means some changes for the rest of you."

"You're not moving him in with Joey and me, are you? Because that's not gonna work," Danny protested. "That room is barely big enough for the two of us, and Erin has a room all to herself."

"That's not what we're doing," Mary said. "We're moving Jamie and Joe into Erin's room, and Danny, you and Erin will be sharing the other room."

Both Danny and Erin protested immediately. "Mom! That's not fair! That's _my_ room!" Erin called out at the same time Danny all but yelled, "No! I'm not sharing with Erin!"

"Mom, why can't Jamie move in with me?" Erin whined. "I'm old enough that I could help take care of him if he wakes up at night."

"Or why can't he just stay with you, where he is now?" Danny added to his sister's argument.

"We're moving Jamie because your father needs to rest at night to do a good job at work. And he can't move in with you, Erin, because you need your rest to do well in school."

"What about Joe? Doesn't he need to rest for school too?"

"Erin, Joe is in kindergarten. He's only there for the morning, and he can take a nap when he gets home when he needs to."

"That's not _fair_!" Erin repeated. She quickly stood up, glared at Joe and Jamie, and stomped out of the kitchen and up the stairs. The sound of her bedroom door slamming echoed down to the rest of the family.

"I'm not sharing a room with _her_." Danny crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back in his chair. "It's not going to work. It's stupid."

"Daniel, yes, you will share the room with your sister. You two will decide how to divide the space. But you are going to share the room with her," Frank insisted.

Danny stood up and also glared at Jamie. "Don't know why we needed another one," he grumbled as he stalked out of the kitchen and headed for the room he shared with Joe.

Frank sighed and looked around the room. "Joe, do you have any comments to add?"

Joe looked up from stacking the bits of pizza crust left on his plate. "I have to move too? I like my room."

Mary sat down next to Joe. "The room you and Danny share is bigger than the one Erin is in. Your brother and sister need that space. Erin's room a nice size for you and baby Jamie. We'll move your bed and your toys and books over, and it will feel like home for you and Jamie right away."

"You're not moving anywhere?"

Mary hugged her son. "No, Sweetie. We'll still be right across the hall if you need us."

Joe nodded. "Okay. And it's okay if Jamie shares a room with me. It'll be fun to have him in my room."

Mary looked at her husband with a small smile. "At least one of them still likes us," she whispered to Frank. "Frank, can you watch these two while I go talk to Erin? Then you can go talk to Danny. They are moving in together on Saturday, like it or not."

Frank nodded. He was not looking forward to the next few days. Not at all.

-BB-BB-

By Saturday morning, the level of tension in the house was palatable. Danny and Erin spent most of breakfast glaring at each other, with the occasional angry glance at their parents. Joe was trying his best to be invisible, and hopefully avoid any angry glares himself. Somehow, he felt this was his fault. After all, he was the one who had wanted the new baby. And normally happy Jamie was being cranky and fussy, probably picking up on the free-floating hostility.

"Joey, go upstairs and grab Jamie's diaper bag. Your Grandma should be here soon," Mary suggested. Betty had agreed to watch Joe and Jamie for the day, so Frank and she could devote their full energy to relocating their children. Mary was again thankful that Betty was able to help out. Her own mother was too frail to babysit an energetic five-year old and a baby.

"Okay." Joe quickly got up from the table and ran for the stairs. By the time he returned, Betty and Henry were already there, and a few minutes after that, the two youngest Reagans were on their way to spend the day with their grandparents.

Mary closed the door behind her as she returned to the house. "Okay, time for you two to get to work!"

"Couldn't we just send those two to Grandma and Grandpop's permanently?" Danny asked, only half in jest. "Then we'd have plenty of room. Like we did before Joey came along."

"No, we can't do that," Frank answered. "What have you decided on how you want to divide the room?"

"I want the window on my side." Erin crossed her arms across her chest.

"You can't have the whole thing. The window is in the middle of the back wall. It's half mine."

"No it's not. It's my window. And my closet, too," Erin demanded.

"You can have the closet. Once you put your stuff in it, it'll be full of cooties, anyway," Danny snipped.

"You jerk! I don't have cooties!" Erin yelled. Mary had to hold her back from attacking her brother.

"Erin! Daniel! No insults today," Frank almost roared. "And both of you sit down."

Erin and Danny reluctantly returned to their seats.

"Okay. Erin, you take the left side, and Danny, you'll take the right side," Frank ordered. "Half the window, and half the closet for each of you. Agreed?"

"Yes, sir," Danny muttered.

"Yes, Dad," Erin finally agreed.

"Good. Your mother and I will move Joe's belongings out. Danny, you move your things your side. Erin, you pack your things into the boxes."

The next few hours were busy as each person worked on their assigned task, and them moving furniture for four children to its new locations. Finally, all the big pieces were in place. Mary surveyed the room Danny and Erin now would share. "That looks nice. I think you both have ample space," she commented.

"Maybe," Danny griped.

"But no private space," Erin whined.

"Maybe we could hang a curtain down the center. What do you think, Frank?"

 _Another project…_ "We could do that."

"Okay. You two finish unpacking you things while your father and I finish up Joe and Jamie's room," Mary told her children. She led Frank back down the hallway to the smaller bedroom. They had finished making up Joe's bed and Jamie's crib, and just began filling the dresser with the boys' clothes and the shelves with toys and books when another fight broke out from Danny and Erin's room.

"Here we go again," Frank muttered. He headed down the hall to Danny and Erin's room.

"He's putting his stuff on my side!" Erin protested when she saw her parents in the doorway.

"Am not. You just don't know what half of the room looks like," Danny argued.

"Yes I do, and it's a foot further over toward you." Erin turned to her mother. "Mom, he's already trying to take my space. I knew this wasn't going to work."

Frank sighed. "Yes, it will." He walked downstairs, dug two items out of the box of tools he kept in the kitchen, and returned upstairs. He handed one item to Danny and one to Erin.

"What do I do with a tape measure?" Danny asked.

"Masking tape?" Erin questioned.

"You two measure the room, and mark the center line with the tape. Divide up the space, and then keep to your own side," Frank told his children. "While you're doing that, your mother and I will be finishing up Joe and Jamie's room. No fighting until you're done."

He led his wife back to Joe and Jamie's room. An hour later, Mary had finished arranging the room just how she wanted it. She looked up at Frank. "I think Joe will like this room."

Frank nodded. "He will."

Mary glanced toward the other bedroom. "I hope they'll learn to live with each other." She looked at the clock. "What do you think they're doing in there? We haven't heard a raised voice for an hour. They can't still be taping off their sides, can they?"

"Let's go check," Frank said with a sigh. He and Mary walked into the hallway, where they got their first clue that Danny and Erin had taken use of tape as a dividing line too far. A strip of tape of tape led out of the middle of their bedroom doorway and down the hall to the middle of the bathroom doorway. Another piece of tape equally divided the stairway. He checked the bedroom, which had been divided very neatly in half by a line of tape. Frank sighed again. At least they had done what they were supposed to first. "Shall we see where this goes?"

"Do we have to?" Mary asked. She followed the tape downstairs, where the front entry was neatly divided, as was the living room, the television, the dining table, and any other room or surface Danny and Erin might have to share. Mary tried to keep from laughing. "Well, they did do what you told them to. Divide up their space, and quietly."

Frank couldn't argue. "But where are they now?" The house was suspiciously quiet.

Mary ran to the kitchen door. "Outside. Dividing the car." She shook her head. "Frank, I think they may be right. I'm not sure this is going to work for very long. I think we need a bigger house."

Frank wrapped an arm around his wife. "I'm afraid you may be right."

* * *

 _Up next: Frank and Mary determine how much bigger the new house needs to be..._


	3. Chapter 3 - Five Bedrooms

_Re-posting Chapter 3. A small change I made didn't save before I posted it earlier. Sorry for any confusion!  
_

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 **Chapter 3 – Five Bedrooms**

Sunday morning dawned over a household in which only one Reagan – baby Jamie – had gotten enough sleep. Saturday night had not been restful for any the older Reagans.

After bringing Danny and Erin back inside to remove some of the extraneous tape lines, the family had cleaned up and then headed out to pick up Joe and Jamie from their grandparents, and then out to dinner. Once they returned home, it had taken a while to get Joe settled in his new room. He needed to check that each of his favorite toys and books was secure in its new location, and then he needed to check all the corners and dark places in the new room to make sure they weren't hiding any monsters.

Getting Danny and Erin settled had taken another chunk of time. Erin decided she was not going to walk around in her nightgown in front of her brother, so he had to wait outside until she was in her bed. And then Danny had suddenly decided that pajamas were stupid, and that he was sleeping in the nude starting right then, leading to another meltdown from Erin, settled when Frank informed Danny that he could sleep either in his pajamas or in one of his mother's flannel nightgowns. Danny had suddenly found his pajamas non-objectionable.

But it was Mary, and therefore Frank, who had the most trouble getting to sleep. Without her baby in the room with her, Mary spent the night lying awake, worrying and listening for any sound from the baby monitor they had set up in Joe and Jamie's room.

Although, as it turned out, they didn't really need the electric monitor. They had a little human one. Joe had spent the night hovering over his baby brother's crib, then running to his parent's bedroom to report every sound baby Jamie made. After Joe's fourth alert, letting them know that Jamie was kicking off his blanket, Mary sat her son down on the bed and handed him the baby monitor.

"Joey, this speaker is connected to a transmitter in your room. It lets us hear your baby brother. Listen to it and you might hear him."

Joe held the receiver up to his ear. "I hear him moving!"

The movement Joe heard was Jamie awakening all alone in a dark room for the first time ever. He twisted his head one way, then the other, then waved his arms and legs around and tried to roll over as he realized the room was empty of the reassuring presence of other people. "Wuh?" Jamie's first exploratory cry carried through the monitor.

"Oh! He's awake!" Joe exclaimed as the baby monitor broadcast the sound.

"See how it works? We can hear him and we can come check on him. So you don't have to run to us every time."

Across the hall, Jamie was realizing he didn't like being alone. Not one little bit. And no one had responded to his first cry. "Aaaah!" he cried again.

That longer and louder cry transmitted through the baby monitor. "Let's go see what he's up to." Mary stood up and Joe hopped off the bed.

Across the hall, Jamie had tired of waiting alone in the dark for someone to check on him. He took a deep breath in at let out the biggest cry he could. "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Ah-waaaaaaaah!"

This time, no one in the house needed the baby monitor to pick up on Jamie's unhappiness. Every family member came running to his side.

Danny frowned at his baby brother. "What's wrong with the little thing?"

Jamie smiled up at the familiar faces hovering over his crib. "Bah-aah," he told them, then grabbed his feet and tried to stick his toes in his mouth.

"It looks like Jamie wanted some company. Isn't that right, little one?" Mary asked her baby.

"La-ah." Jamie babbled.

Danny sighed in disgust and stepped back. "I'm going back to my room." He turned to see Erin standing behind him and couldn't resist one more dig. "Ohhhhh. Look! Erin's in her nightgown!"

Erin punched him in the arm. "The room's only half yours, and the doorknob is on MY side," she snapped at Danny, then ran for the bedroom. A few seconds later, their bedroom door slammed shut.

"Aah!" Jamie yelped at the sound. Joe winced and pressed his hands over his ears.

"Hey, you can't lock me out! Hey!" Danny quickly followed his sister.

Frank sighed and headed down the hall to Danny and Erin's room. If they couldn't be civil, they needed to at least fight quietly.

Mary picked Jamie up out of the crib and cuddled him against her shoulder. "It's almost time for your midnight snack, isn't it, baby boy?" she asked him. "Joe, why don't you get in bed, and I'll tell you a story while I feed Jamie?"

Joe yawned. That sounded like a good idea. Watching out for a baby was so exhausting! "'kay." He crawled back into bed and curled up under the covers.

For an hour, quiet reigned in the Reagan household, and the two youngest and the two oldest slept. But in Danny and Erin's room, it may have been quiet, but nobody was sleeping. Following their father's instructions, they were fighting quietly. Each sibling had a notepad and a pack of markers, and were taking turns drawing out exactly what they thought of each other.

Danny finished his latest drawing, an illustration of showing Erin how she needed to take a long walk off a short pier into a river full of piranhas and sharks, and threw it at his sister. A second later, her latest missive smacked him in the head. "Ouch!" She'd put one of her markers inside this one.

"Just read it, idiot," Erin hissed at him. "And be quiet!"

Danny unrolled the paper. It looked to be a diagram of the room, but with the furniture arranged differently.

"If we put the dressers in the center and stack the bookshelves on top of them, it will be like separate rooms," Erin whispered. "Then I won't have to look at _you_."

"Fine. But it goes on the center line," Danny responded, gesturing to the masking tape line they had laid down at the exact middle of the room.

"Halfway on it. Half on your side, and half on mine." Erin forgot to whisper.

"Okay. Let's do it." Danny got up off his bed and began dumping items off his bookshelf, while Erin carefully moved her belongings to her bed.

"Danny, come help me move my dresser," Erin ordered her brother. She pushed it a few inches away from the wall.

"Ugh. What do you keep in this thing?" Danny griped as they drug it across the room, leaving gouges in the hardwood floor as they went.

"My clothes aren't heavy. It's just the dresser," Erin panted. "There. I think that's right. Now let's move yours."

"Bet mine's lighter. Because I'm not a _girl_ with too many clothes."

"Shut up and let's get this finished." Erin walked over to Danny's dresser, and the two of them maneuvered it into place in the center of the room.

"Okay, now the shelves." Danny tried lifting one end of his bookshelf unit. "I think if we pick it up from the bottom shelf…"

Erin pushed at it. "Maybe we should get Daddy to help tomorrow."

"Nah. We can get it. Don't be a girl."

"Don't be a jerk," Erin retorted. "Anything you can do, I can do better." She put all her strength into dragging the bookshelf to the center of the room by herself.

Danny walked over to join her. "You want my help, or should I go back to bed?"

Erin glared at her brother. "Help, dorkface."

"Okay. You get that side, and I'll get this one. We'll push it on top of the dresser on its side, then we'll have to stand on the dresser to get it right side up," Danny explained his plan. A plan which worked great, until all of a sudden it didn't. The bookshelf shifted slightly, twisted out of Danny's and Erin's grips, and crashed to the floor. Before the thud finished echoing through the house, Joe was yelling in alarm, Jamie was crying, and Frank was running into the room.

"What in the name of God Almighty are you doing?" Frank boomed as he took in the sight of the broken bookshelf on the floor and Danny and Erin standing on Danny's dresser.

Danny and Erin glanced at each other, then at their father, mother and younger siblings standing in the doorway. There was no way they weren't in trouble for this.

"Danny made me do it, Dad. I wanted to get you to help us," Erin finally said.

"Liar! This was _your_ idea," Danny fired back.

"Moving the furniture was my idea. This mess was your idea!" Erin yelled back.

"Enough!" Frank looked over the scene again. Broken furniture, a damaged floor, their children in a hazardous situation and arguing yet again. But it had been a damn good idea. With a few sheets of plywood and some 2x4's, the furniture could be made into a safe room divider. He walked into the room, helped Danny and Erin down from the dresser, and stood up the bookshelf. "Go to bed," he ordered.

"But, Dad, we're not finished moving the furniture," Danny argued.

"And there's stuff all over my bed, and Danny's stuff is all over the floor," Erin added.

Mary handed Jamie off to Frank. "Danny, stack you things neatly at the end of your bed. Erin, you put your things back on your bookshelf. We'll work on the furniture tomorrow."

Once his two eldest had returned the room to order and retreated to their beds, Frank headed for the room of the two youngest, and helped get Joe tucked back into his bed while Mary got Jamie settled in his crib. A few minutes later, he collapsed into his own bed. "Is it even worth going back to sleep?"

Mary checked the clock, then lay down beside him. "Nope. One hour until it's time to get up for church."

Frank groaned. "I think God would understand if we skipped today."

"Danny and Erin need to know that their bad behavior won't get them out of going to church. And you need to go to confession. I heard you violate the Third Commandment," Mary teased. "Taking God's name in vain."

"I think He understood that, too."

"And I need to talk to Joan. You remember Joan?"

"Joan… of Arc?"

"No!" Mary slapped her husband's arm. "Joan McAlister. Her daughter babysat the kids last month. She also happens to be a real estate agent."

"And we need a real estate agent because we need a bigger house? Can we afford to do that?" Frank wondered.

"Can we afford not to? We all need to sleep at night, and have some peace during the day. It's worth the extra money."

"A bigger house with more bedrooms. You're thinking five?"

"Five. One for us, and one for each of the children," Mary confirmed.

"Five bedrooms."

* * *

 _Up next: Bedrooms are only one part of a house..._


	4. Chapter 4 - Three Bathrooms

_Don't miss Chapter 3! I posted it yesterday, but the story list didn't indicate it had been updated... LLL_

* * *

 **Chapter 4 – Three Bathrooms**

Almost a week later, life in the Reagan household had settled back into routine, despite the new living arrangements. Danny and Erin were managing to keep the fights to a minimum, a process which had been greatly helped by the use of their furniture and two sheets of plywood as a room divider. It was almost as if they still had separate rooms, but not quite.

And Joe sharing a room with Jamie was working out better than Frank and Mary had expected. Now that Joe understood how the baby monitor worked, he was learning to stay in bed when his baby brother needed attention during the night. At least, most of the time he was. Friday night was different…

"Waaaaaaaaah. Waaaaaaaaaah!"

Two quiet cries carried out of the crib baby Jamie slept in - was _supposed_ to be sleeping in – and echoed across the room he had shared with his big brother Joe for almost a week. But, clearly, the baby was not sleeping right now. Joe rolled onto his side and pulled his bedcovers tightly around his head, hoping to block out the sound. That baby monitor thing would let Mommy and Daddy know Jamie needed something, so he'd stay in bed and wait for them to come take care of Jamie, like they had told him to.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah."

Another cry emanated from the crib, louder this time, and Joe wondered again how his tiny little brother could make so much noise. If tonight was like the other nights, Mommy or Daddy would be here soon to pick up Jamie and get him to stop crying. Until then, he'd just curl up deeper in his bed and pretend he didn't hear.

"Waaaaaaaaah. Waaaaaaaaaah!"

Joe pressed his hands over his ears as he wondered what Jamie wanted this time. Mommy had said that crying was the only way Jamie had to talk to the family right now, and they had to figure out if he was hungry or tired or needed a clean diaper or if he was just lonely or scared.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Waaaaah-ck." Jamie latest wail ended in a choking sob.

It sure was taking Mommy and Daddy a long time to come check on Jamie tonight, Joe thought. He sat up as a thought entered his mind. What if it was him stuck in bed, calling for Mommy or Daddy, and they were sitting across the room ignoring him? That would feel awful! Poor little baby Jamie. No wonder he was crying.

Joe knew there wasn't much he could do if Jamie needed to be fed or changed, but if he just needed someone to talk to… Well, _that_ he could take care of. He walked over to the shelves and pulled one of his favorite books off the shelf. "Alphabet of Animals," he thought it was called. He knew most of the words in this book. At least, he knew what most of the pictures were. Maybe the baby would be interested in it, too!

Joe walked over to Jamie's crib. "Hiya, Jamie. I'm going to read my book to you, okay?" He stuck the book through the crib railings and opened it to the first page.

"Waah?" Jamie let out one more short cry before the movement of the book in front of him diverted his attention from the fact that he was cold and his little tummy was empty.

"A is for Animals," Joe told Jamie from memory. "See the picture of the all the animals? Animals starts with A."

"Aaah?" Jamie reached one hand up toward the book.

"Yes! A, for animals." Jamie was so smart! He'd already learned one letter! Joe pointed to the next page. "And B is for Bear. Like your teddy bear, except the real ones are lots bigger and have big claws and big teeth, so you want to stay away from them," Joe told his baby brother. He waited for Jamie to repeat that letter also, but the baby just lay there, looking at the book and sucking on his fingers. Joe turned to the next page. "And C is for Cat. Mommy's 'lergic to cats, so we can't have one."

"Aaah!" Jamie took another swipe at the book.

"No, this is C. Cee, for cat," Joe explained. Maybe the one letter was all Jamie was going to learn tonight. Or… "Oh, wait! Mommy said you see everything upside down. I should turn the book over, right Jamie?" Joe asked. He rotated the book around, and held it closer to Jamie. "D is for Dog. We might get one someti… oops!" The book slipped out of Joe's hands and landed on Jamie's face.

For a long moment, the room was silent. Then Jamie started crying loudly.

Mary and Frank immediately rushed into the room from where they had been standing in the hallway listening to Joe "read" to his baby brother. Mary immediately moved the book off of Jamie and picked him up, cradling him in her arms. The baby's cries immediately began to trail off.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do it!" Joe tried not to cry himself. "I'm sorry!"

"We know, sweetie. Jamie's crying because he's startled. And he's got a tiny cut on his forehead that probably doesn't feel very good," Mary tried to sooth both her sons. "We'll go get that fixed right now up, won't we, Jamie?" Mary headed down the hall to the lone bedroom all six family members shared.

Joe sniffled and swiped a hand across his eyes.

The movement caught Frank's attention. He picked Joe up in his arms. "What's wrong, Joey?"

"I wanted a baby brother forever, and now I broke him," Joe almost cried. "I was just trying to be a good big brother."

Frank held Joe tighter. "You were being a good big brother. You saw Jamie was upset, and tried to make it better. I think he knows that."

"Won't he be mad at me? I dropped my book on him and cut his head open."

"No. Babies are good about forgiving their big brothers for accidents. He's probably forgotten it already."

"And I didn't say in bed, like you told me to do when Jamie cried," Joe confessed. "I didn't let the baby mon'ter work."

"And that's our fault tonight. Our end of the baby monitor got hidden under a blanket. That's why it took us longer to hear him tonight. We're not mad at you either." Frank leaned over to pick up the book Joe had dropped onto his brother, and wiped the tiny spot of blood off the bottom of the page. "When your Mommy brings Jamie back, why don't you read more of this book to him? You can practice by reading to me while we wait for Mommy and Jamie to get back." Frank sat down on Joe's bed, sat Joe down beside him, and handed the book to Joey.

"Okay!" Joe agreed as he opened the book. "E. E is for elep… ele-phant!"

Meanwhile, down the hall, Mary was pacing impatiently in front of the bathroom door. She tapped on it again. "Danny, can you go faster? Your little brother needs a band-aid."

"Which one?"

 _A little round one_ , Mary thought. "Jamie," she replied.

Danny swung the bathroom door open so hard it hit the wall behind him. "He can wait," Danny snarled. "First, I get kicked out of having my own bedroom and have to share with _Erin_ because of him, and now he's kicking me out of my bathroom. Not that it's really _my_ bathroom. I have to share it with Erin and the rest of you, too." He squeezed around his mother and stalked off down the hall toward his room. "I wasn't done crapping!"

" _Daniel_!" Mary scolded. "Watch your language!" But Danny was already in his shared bedroom. Mary turned her attention to cleaning and bandaging the small paper cut on Jamie's forehead. She returned to the room her two youngest sons shared.

Frank was sitting on Joe's bed with Joe tucked close beside him. "Mary, Joe wants to read more of his book to Jamie."

Mary settled herself and Jamie in the rocker where she could feed him while Joe read. "Okay, what's the next letter? E?"

"Actually, we're up to G," Frank told her.

"G is for Giraffe," Joe read. "They don't eat little boys, even though Danny said they did, so you don't need to be scared of them," he informed his brother. He looked back to the book. "With their necks so long and so tall, they reach the best lea… lea…" Joe frowned at the unfamiliar word and looked up at his father.

"Leaves," Frank filled in.

"They reach the best leaves and they eat up them all," Joe concluded. He turned the page. "H is for Hippo." He got through a few more letters before he yawned widely.

Frank glanced over at his wife, who was holding a now-sleeping Jamie in her arms. "Joey, it looks like Jamie's asleep. Why don't we finish up the alphabet some other night?"

Joe yawned again. "'kay."

Frank took the book from Joe and closed it. He tucked Joe back under the covers while Mary got Jamie settled in his crib. He wrapped an arm around his wife's waist as they headed back to their own bedroom.

"Three bathrooms," Mary remarked.

"What?"

"The new house needs to have three bathrooms. One for us, and two more so Danny and Erin don't have to share. And we need to find it soon."

"Our first meeting with your real estate friend is tomorrow." Frank led his wife toward their room. "We should rest up. I'm sure it's going to be a busy day."

* * *

 _Next: The house hunt begins..._


	5. Chapter 5 - House Hunters

**Chapter 5 – House Hunters**

 _House #1_

"It's a lovely home. Six bedrooms, four baths, two stories," Joan McAlister, real estate agent, informed her clients as they entered the stately brick house. "A wonderful location. Close to transportation and the main roads into Manhattan."

"And just a few blocks from your parents, Frank," Mary added as she looked around the foyer.

"Yes, it is," Frank agreed. He followed his wife and the realtor on a quick tour of the many bedrooms and baths upstairs, and the living and dining rooms downstairs. This house had everything they needed. Space for each child to have their own room, a master bedroom with attached bath for Mary and him, and two other baths on the second floor for the children to share. But Frank had a feeling they weren't going to like what that space cost.

"Let's take a look at the kitchen. The previous owner recently remodeled it with all the modern touches." Joan led them into the kitchen. As Joan had indicated, it was newly remodeled with golden oak cabinets, beige appliances and a dusty mauve solid-surface countertop.

"It's very… pink."

"Frank, it's not _pink_ ," Mary corrected. "It's mauve. It's the in color this year."

 _Pink_ , Frank thought, just like the carpet in several of the bedrooms, and the tile in one of the baths. "And how much does all this _mauve_ cost?"

Joan smiled. "It's priced to move. The owner is very motivated." Joan listed off a price that was well above their budget.

"Joan, now, I think the maximum price we gave you was a bit less than that."

"That price is just a starting point," Joan argued. "We can negotiate them down, and if can increase your budget just a little, you see how much you can get."

"We'll keep it on the list," Mary interrupted. "Why don't we take a look at the next place?"

* * *

 _House #4_

"Joan, where are we going today?" Mary asked the realtor as got into the back seat of her car. Frank closed the door behind her, then walked around to the driver side and got in himself.

"Since Bay Ridge was too pricey, today, we'll look at a few houses farther out from the city. The commute may be longer, but there's an up and coming neighborhood near Park Slope with some very nicely-priced houses."

"And some nicely-priced drugs," Frank muttered to himself, but the other occupants of the car heard.

"Frank, let's give it a chance. It could be a good option," Mary spoke up.

"It is. The first one we'll see is row house. An end unit, so only one other house is connected. Four beds, three baths, and a potential rental unit in the basement if you don't need the space. It's so cute. Lots of historic character," Joan gushed.

Not too long later, Frank pulled his car into the one-car parking slot in front of their potential new home. He supposed the house did have some historic charm, including a nice bay window out front and detailed stone work to complement the brick exterior.

Once again, Joan led them on a tour of the house. It clearly needed some work inside; the previous owners apparently had not been into touch-up painting and other maintenance work, but it seemed structurally sound. Only four bedrooms, but one was large enough for Joe and Jamie to share comfortably. They were just heading downstairs when someone rang the doorbell and then banged on the door.

"Ladies, I'll get this," Frank squeezed around the two women and opened the door. "Yes?"

The young man standing on the other side of the screen door bounced nervously from one foot to the other. "Hey, is Whizzer here?"

 _High as a kite._ "Nope," Frank replied shortly.

"Oh." The man thought about Frank's reply. "You know where he is? 'cause I need to drop off some stuff for him."

"Just a minute." Frank closed the door, then turned to his wife. "Mary, you and Joan go back upstairs," he quietly instructed them.

Mary nodded, and headed back up the stairs. As soon as the women were out of sight, Frank opened the door. "So, what's your name?"

"Sam. Or Samsonite. 'cause I carry stuff," the man said.

"Well, Sam. I'm Fuzz." Frank wiggled his mustache.

Sam nodded. "From the lip fuzz? Bad name, dude. Was thinking fuzz, like the cops."

Frank chuckled. "Whizzer told me about you, Sam. He's away for a while. I'm helping him out while he's gone. What kind of _stuff_ do you have for Whizzer today?"

"Y'know, some crack. Maybe some ice also. Weed if he wants it," the man replied.

"And how much does Whizzer pay you?"

"You renegotiating our prices, man?"

"Nah. Just need to confirm what Whizzer told me," Frank lied.

The man thought for a minute, then named an amount Frank knew was much higher than what any drug dealer would pay.

"How about I give you half that, and I don't tell Whizzer you tried to cheat me?"

Sam paled. "You don't need to do that. How 'bout we meet in the middle?"

"I believe we have a deal. Shake on it?" Frank extended a hand to the man. As soon as the man took his hand, Frank pulled him into the house, twisted his arm behind him and forced him to his knees.

"Dude! Not cool!" the drug seller whined.

"NYPD. You're under arrest." Frank handcuffed the man with the spare cuffs he carried out of habit and patted him down. He took possession of the gun tucked into the back of the man's pants and the knife in his pocket.

The man let loose with an inventive string of profanity, calling into question Frank's parentage and his mother's virtue and that told Frank exactly what he could do, with who and on what.

"Are you done yet?"

The man spat out one final curse.

Frank yanked him back to his feet and led him out to the car. As they exited the house, he saw a car zipping away from the scene and made note of the make and color. Unfortunately, he didn't get a clear look at the license plate. He pushed the drug dealer down on the hood of his car with an order to stay put before reaching into the car for the police radio mounted under the dashboard and calling in the arrest. While he waited for backup to arrive, he took the time to search his prisoner and inventory his finds. A bag of crack, each rock individually wrapped; a bag of powder cocaine, also packaged for individual sale; a good quantity of meth and a smaller amount of weed. It was enough to support charges of possession with intent to distribute, and based on the weaponry he had found earlier, felon in possession of a gun also. Shortly afterwards, a patrol unit arrived to take the dealer into custody. It wasn't until the patrol unit had departed that Frank returned to the house and called for Mary and Joan to come back down.

"I assume this house is off the list?" Mary asked.

Frank nodded. "I think we can take this neighborhood off the list."

"That's a shame. It's the perfect size for you and the children, and it's priced so nicely for what you get. Under your budget, even," Joan pressed.

"It's a drug house! Or it used to be. I'm assuming the previous resident's forwarding address is Riker's Island?"

"Not exactly," Joan hedged.

"The morgue?" Frank guessed. "Was he murdered here?"

"From what I heard, he wasn't murdered," Joan hedged again. "He just... died."

"It's a drug house where a dealer died!"

"Well, there's a reason it's under your budget. In a few months, the drug dealers will have forgotten all about this house. You can snap it up now for a song."

"And have armed felons showing up at all hours to buy and sell drugs. No." Frank stated, ending the debate. "Mary, I'm sorry. I have to go do some paperwork. Joan, let's try again next week?"

"Of course, Frank." Joan sighed. The Reagan family was proving to be her most difficult client.

* * *

 _House #9_

"Mary! Frank!" Joan greeted her clients as Frank brought his car to a stop in front of a tidy Dutch Colonial style house.

"So, Staten Island this time?" Frank asked.

"I have several properties to show you today in this area. I think you'll find it's much more affordable than the Bay Ridge area. And it's an established neighborhood, not like the place we saw last week."

"It's a bit of a commute. No subway."

"There's the ferry," Joan argued. "And in a few years, you won't be doing the driving anyway. Once you move up to Commissioner…"

"Joan…"

"Just joking, _Detective_ ," Joan teased. "Now, let's go take a look at this house." She led Frank and Mary into the house.

"It's very… compact," Mary commented. The front door opened directly on to the staircase. A small living room was on the right, with an equally small dining room behind it.

"It's cozy. Just imagine your family gathered around the fireplace on some winter evening." Joan worked on selling the house.

Mary walked across the living room and peeked into the kitchen that opened on to the dining room. "It's a decent kitchen. Looks like it's in good working order."

"Let's head upstairs. There are three bedrooms on the second level," Joan explained as she walked up the stairs. "The main bedroom is here, at the top of the stairs, with its own bath. There are two more bedrooms and a bath toward the front…"

"And the other two bedrooms?"

"There's an attic that could be easily finished into one big bedroom. It would be perfect for Joseph and the new baby."

"Jamie," Frank filled in.

"I don't know if we'd want to have Jamie on a different floor right now," Mary worried.

"Well, then Daniel and Erin could have the attic. It could also be two smaller rooms."

"That could work."

"And the price is right on budget." Joan named the asking price.

Mary looked around the house. "The price is right, but it I don't know if it's enough space. It's very…"

"Cozy?" Frank supplied, using the same word Joan had used earlier.

Mary smiled at her husband. "We could make it work, as long as Danny and Erin have separate rooms."

"So? Do we want to write up an offer, or see the other houses I have lined up?" Joan asked.

"Let's take a look at the others," Frank suggested. He wasn't totally sold on this house. Too 'cozy.'

* * *

 _House #10_

Joan's next house was another two-story near the same neighborhood. It was slightly larger overall, with three bedrooms on the second floor and two already-finished ones in the attic. On the down side, the ceilings were low in the second story. Frank had to duck slightly to get through the doorways. That would get old fast. And in the attic bedrooms, he couldn't even stand up straight. It might be workable for now, but he couldn't imagine it working once their children grew taller. At least two of his four children looked to share his height; at their last annual physical, both Erin and Joe had measured above average on the height charts for their ages. Nope. He foresaw too many trips to the emergency room for stitches in that house.

* * *

 _House #11_

Joan's next property for the day was a small Cape Cod style bungalow further out on Staten Island. Frank looked from the house to his wife. "It looks cozy."

Mary laughed. "I think 'cozy' is real estate speak for teeny-tiny. And it's so far out. Your commute would be so long, we'd hardly see you before it was time for the kids to turn in for the night. And they would have to change schools. St. Bernard's is just too far away from here."

"Do we want to look at this one?"

Mary sighed. "Joan is working so hard for us. Let's at least walk through it before we say no."

Joan knocked on the car window. "Reagans, let's go! There's already on offer on this one, so you'll need to act fast if you like it."

Frank got out of the car, then walked around to help his wife out also. "So, how many bedrooms is this one?"

"Two on the main level, and two finished bedrooms in the attic."

"Only four?"

"There's a partially finished room in the walk-out basement, with its own bath. It would be perfect for Danny or Erin."

Mary glanced at her husband. "Frank, I don't think that would work. Danny is already so rebellious. Can you imagine the trouble he could get into if his room is that far from ours? If he has his own entrance to the house out of our sight?"

Frank nodded, remembering an incident with Danny from earlier that week. They had caught Danny sneaking back into the house after spending the night over at his friend Mickey's. _'I'd rather get in trouble and share a room with my friend than stay here and live with my sister_ ,' Danny had snipped. Apparently, it wasn't the first time he'd done it. And Danny wasn't even a teenager yet. "We'd just be asking for trouble."

"And Erin. I think she's going to be a handful in a few years also," Mary added. Their daughter had chosen not to tell her parents about Danny sneaking out to sleep at his friend's, since Danny being away meant she had the room to herself. And she was developing a rebellious streak of her own. "I don't think a basement bedroom is going to work."

Joan looked at her clients. "So, we'll take this one off the list. I have two more to show you today.

"Okay then!" Frank tried too hard to sound enthusiastic. "Off to the next one!"

* * *

 _Up next: One more house..._


	6. Chapter 6 - Making an Offer

**Chapter 6 – Making an Offer**

 _House #14_

"Grandpop!" Joe Reagan ran into his grandparent's house in Bay Ridge and threw himself into his grandfather's arms. "Hi, Grandpop."

"Hi there, Joey." Henry hugged his grandson. "Where's the rest of your family?"

"Mommy is getting baby Jamie out of the car, and Danny and Erin are being angry," Joey told Henry. "So Daddy is making them be nice before they can come inside."

"So we'll see them in a few hours," Henry muttered.

"They don't like sharing their room. But I like sharing my room. You should see what baby Jamie did last night! He rolled all the way over onto his front, and then kept going back onto his back!" Joe enthused over the antics of his little brother.

"Well, that's great!" Henry looked up to see Mary entering the house with Jamie in his baby carrier. "Why don't you go tell your Grandma about that? I think she has a fresh cookie for you, too."

"Okay!" Joe ran for the kitchen.

"Mary, welcome."

"Henry." Mary put Jamie down and hugged her father-in-law. "How are you?"

"Good. Can't complain. And how's my little tiny grandbaby?" He rocked Jamie's carrier and was rewarded with a small giggle from the baby.

"Not so tiny anymore. He's growing like a weed. All caught up with the height and weight charts now." Mary smiled down at her baby. Jamie had given them all a scare, arriving three weeks before his due date. But that was all behind them now. Jamie was checking off all the normal developmental milestones, even if he was just slightly behind the average baby on some of them. "Where's Joey?"

Henry pointed to his left. "Kitchen. With Betty."

"I'd better go check on him." Mary reached down to pick up the carrier.

Henry noticed his son approaching, pulling Danny and Erin into the house. "Mary, let me get Jamie settled in his playpen. Betty has something she wants to discuss with you."

"Thanks, Henry." Mary headed for the kitchen.

"Hello, Francis and children," Henry greeted the new arrivals.

"Hello, Grandpop." Erin quickly hugged her grandfather before heading for the dining room.

"'lo," Danny muttered. He waved at his grandfather as he walked past on his way to the TV and the Jets game.

Henry picked up Jamie and motioned for his son to follow him to the study. Henry placed his new grandson in his carrier on the couch. "Francis, I hear your two oldest are not playing well together?"

Frank sighed. "Playing together, they could do. It's the living together that's not going well."

"And the house hunt?"

"Bah!" Jamie called out.

"Jamie has it right, Pop. Bah," Frank replied as he unbuckled Jamie from the carrier and picked him up. "Also not going well. We've yet to find a place with enough space in our price range and in a good location."

"Son, you need to think of your career. Having a house in a high-crime neighborhood could boost your felony arrest record dramatically. Have you made any more arrests?" Henry teased.

Frank smiled slightly. "Just that one. Isn't that right, Jamie. One arrest."

"Wuh," Jamie tried to imitate the sound his father had made.

Henry picked up a few sheets of paper from the desk. "A realtor friend of mine just got this new listing in the neighborhood. Take a look." He handed the papers to his son. "And I'll take this little cutie from you." He took Jamie from Frank's arms.

Frank glanced over the listing. "No pictures."

"It's brand new," Henry explained. "They're being processed by the photo developer."

"No price."

"They're still working on that too. Just look at the details."

Frank gave the listing a closer look. Two stories, five bedrooms, three and a half baths, a garage, formal dining and living rooms, spacious kitchen, sunny family room. "Pop, it sounds great, but there's no way we can afford this. Not in this neighborhood."

"Don't be too sure," Henry argued.

"We saw a house like this. It was well over our maximum budget."

"This one's not."

"And how do you know that?" Frank almost snapped at his father.

"Because I'll sell it to you at cost. What your mother and I paid for it forty-some years ago."

Frank looked back down at the papers. How had he not recognized that this was his parents' house? The house he'd grown up in? "Pop, I'm not buying your house from under you. This is your home."

"And now it can be yours," Henry argued. "Francis, your mother and I bought this house, expecting to fill it with children. That never happened. It was several years before you came along, and we didn't have any after you."

"I know that, Pop." The mystery of why he was the only Irish Catholic child he knew with no siblings was one he'd almost given up solving.

"It's a house for a large family. Like yours."

"And where would you and Mom live?" Frank asked.

Henry shrugged. "We've been talking about renting a place in the city. Experience life in the big city for a few years."

"As opposed to life right across the river from the big city?"

"You know what I mean. And this house is getting too much for us to handle. Those stairs are starting to get hard on my joints." Henry rested one hand on the hip that had been aching more and more in recent years. "But you and Mary could take care of it for us until we want to move back."

Frank looked over at his father. "Move back?"

"It will be one of the conditions of the sale. You fix up that small bedroom – the maid's quarters – into a proper in-law suite, and give your mother and me a life estate to live out our days here."

Frank looked down at the listing. This _would_ be the perfect house in which to raise his children. He should know; it had been a perfect place for _him_ to grow up. A bedroom for each child and one for Mary and him, enough bathrooms to keep the peace, especially as Erin got closer to her teenage years, plenty of living space, which would also help keep the peace, a nice kitchen for Mary, a decent size yard, close to parks, close to the children's school and the family church. But he would be kicking his parents out.

"At least say you'll think about it, Francis," Henry insisted. "I don't need an answer tonight."

"I'll have to discuss it with Mary."

"Of course. But you should know, she's getting the same pitch I gave you from Betty right now," Henry informed his son. "Your wife is a smart woman. I'll bet she'll see the many benefits of our offer right away."

-BB-BB-

An hour later, the family was settled around the large dining table for Sunday dinner. Henry looked down the table at his grandchildren. "So, what have your parents told you about the new house search?"

"Pop!" Frank sent a glare his father's way, trying to warn him not to mention his big idea right now.

"They can't find one," Danny snipped. "There's a _million_ houses around here, and they can't find _one_ that will let me have my own room."

"They're all so far away," Erin whined. "I don't want to leave my friends at school and go somewhere else."

"Pop, it's not an easy process. We're doing the best we can to find a house that the right size, and the right place and the right price. It's not that simple."

"I know that, Francis. Betty and I went through that same process before we bought _this_ house," Henry added with a pointed glance back at his son.

Betty gently rested her hand on her husband's arm, a clear signal for him to stop arguing. She looked to her grandson. "Danny, what's most important for you to have in the new house?"

"My own room," Danny immediately replied. "One I don't share with her, or those two." Danny pointed to his sister, then his two younger brothers.

"And Erin? What do you think is most important?"

"Space to get away from _him_." Erin pointed to her older brother. "And a door I can lock."

"Joey? How about you? What do you want in your new house?"

"I want ev'rybody in it," Joe replied. "Mommy and Daddy and Danny and Erin and baby Jamie and me. And you and Grandpop, too. Like here."

"Well, there you have it, Francis. Out of the mouths of babes. Your little boy wants a house where we can all be together, like this one," Henry repeated, with another pointed look at his son.

Frank sighed when he noticed that not only was his father looking at him, but his wife was too. While his father's semi-glare said, 'you're being a stubborn fool,' his wife's seemed to add, 'take them up on their offer before they change their minds.' Clearly, his mother already had Mary convinced of the many benefits of buying their house.

"Oh, gag," Danny gestured toward his little brother. "Where did you find that little sap?"

"Daniel, I think Joe has a very good point. Your family being together under one roof is what's important. So you behave," Betty scolded her grandson. "That's why your parents are looking for a bigger house. So you children can all live together in peace."

"That might be asking a little too much of a house," Frank muttered.

"Or it might not. A little breathing room can make for a happy family."

"Isn't that the reasoning the Germans used for invading Poland?"

"So, now we're Polish and you're an invading army?" Henry asked.

Danny looked from his grandfather to his father in confusion, and then looked at his sister, who shrugged her shoulders. This conversation had gone to Crazytown in a hurry and left them both behind. "Grandpop, we're not Polish. We're Irish. You told us yourself about your father coming over from Ireland."

"Of course we're Irish," Henry responded. "I was making an analogy."

"Henry, Francis, that's enough," Betty ended that conversation. "Who's ready for some chocolate pie?"

"Me!" Danny spoke up immediately. He might not understand what was going on between the adults, but chocolate pie? That he understood. Especially Grandma's chocolate pie.

-BB-BB-

A few hours later, the Frank Reagan family had returned to its own house, and after another round of argument between Erin and Danny, all members were tucked into their respective beds. Most of them were actually asleep. But not Frank. He lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling, deep in thought.

"Frank? You're not asleep, are you?" Mary asked.

"Nope."

"Thinking about your parents' offer?"

Frank picked the papers up off his nightstand and reviewed the mocked-up listing again. "Five bedrooms, three baths…"

"And a half. Don't forget the powder room on the main floor," Mary added. "And that kitchen, and a study for you, and a formal dining room and a solarium that would be perfect for the kids to do their homework and play and watch TV."

Frank sighed. "It's everything we wanted, in our neighborhood, at a price we can afford. But it does have some extra costs."

"Frank, if you mean living with your parents, I'm fine with that. They're like another set of parents to me. Even more so now that Daddy is gone and Mother is… isn't in good health." Mary swiped at a tear. It hadn't even been a year since her father's death, and she feared her mother would follow him soon.

"You know they're not going to move to the city permanently. Pop is Brooklyn born and bred. He won't stay away from home; not for very long."

"And they would be welcome to come home whenever they want," Mary insisted. "Betty told you about the first floor in-law suite? They have plans drawn up already."

"Hadn't seen the plans."

"It's a lovely room, with a sitting area and bath attached. Enough space that they can get away from us if they want, but still be part of the family."

"You're sold on the idea."

"I am," Mary confirmed. "Frank, it's the perfect house in the perfect neighborhood. Don't let that Reagan stubbornness get in the way of what's best for your family."

"You sound like Mom."

"She told me to tell you that, if it looked like you weren't going to accept their offer."

"Okay," Frank conceded. "But I'm not accepting Pop's price."

Mary rolled onto her side. "You think it should be _lower_?"

Frank wrapped his arm around his wife. "Higher. Mom and Pop have paid off their mortgage; they shouldn't have to start a new one now. I want to pay them enough to cover the cost of a small apartment in the city."

Mary nodded. "That should be within our budget." She snuggled closer to her husband. "Are we really going to buy the house?"

"We are." Frank hugged his wife.

-BB-BB-

"And the next day, you came to my office to make that counteroffer," Henry recalled. "Tried to convince me to take more money from you, my own son."

"And then you made your own counteroffer. What I'd offered, minus the cost of the renovations," Frank added.

"Which you accepted, and we've been one big happy family ever since. Most of the time."

"We've had some good years here," Frank agreed.

Henry removed his glasses. "Francis, have you thought about who you're going to sell the house to when those stairs get too much for you joints?" he asked. "You have three to choose from."

"I don't know, Pop. I thought I might sell it to a stranger. Cash in and move to Hawaii," he teased.

"Francis. No you wouldn't. You wouldn't like Hawaii. You're a New York boy. Born and bred."

"Probably right," Frank admitted. "Right now, my three have their own homes. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Sometime in the future."

* * *

 _Concludes tomorrow with a brief peek into that future..._


	7. Chapter 7 - Sometime in the Future

**Chapter 7 – Sometime in the Future**

Jamie Reagan looked down at the paper real estate listing in his father had handed to him. Who still used paper real estate listing? Most everyone had switched to digital years ago. And why were there no pictures? And had someone used a _typewriter_ to prepare it? Suddenly, the skills he used on the job as an NYPD detective kicked in. "This is your house. This is the fake listing Grandpop made up way back then."

"Well, a copy of it," Frank admitted.

Jamie looked up at his father. "You want us to buy your house from you?"

"It's been too empty this past year, living here by myself," Frank Reagan, the last living retired NYPD Commissioner, commented. "Someone once told me it's a house for large family."

Jamie dropped onto the couch. "And I'm about to have a large family." His lovely wife was pregnant – with triplets. They'd wanted just one more, hopefully a little girl, to give their three-year old son Joey a sibling and complete their family. But it hadn't happened naturally, so they had sought medical assistance. The doctor had said their best option was "PIVF" – Precision In-vitro Fertilization, supposedly a marked advance over the 'primitive' IVF of earlier years. One fertilized egg was implanted at a time, the doctor had explained, at the precise time and place where it was most likely to take hold. But somehow, an extra one had snuck through, both had taken and then one of those two had split. They were getting their little girl, along with her identical twin sister and a brother. "Three babies," Jamie moaned. "We could have handled one more in our place, but not three."

"This house has rooms for every one of them and a room for the two of you. I'll move into Pop's old room. He was right; those stairs get to be too much for old joints."

"What about Danny? Or Erin? Shouldn't you offer it to them first?"

"I discussed the matter with them. Erin is happy in her apartment in the city, and it's too much space for her. Danny and Linda have paid off the mortgage on their house and don't have any intention of leaving. They agreed you should have it. Danny did insist he has the right to come here for Sunday dinners, however."

"He'll always show up when there's free food available," Jamie joked.

"That, and he wants to see how you're going to fit three infants and a toddler into you neatly-organized life."

"Free dinner and a free show," Jamie muttered. He scanned over the mocked-up listing again. "Dad, thanks. I'll check with my wife, but if it's up to me, we're going to take you up on this."

"Just so you know, Erin is giving her the same pitch you just got."

"I don't think it will take too much convincing." Jamie smiled. His wife loved this house. Heck, so did he. It had been a wonderful place to grow up, and it would be a wonderful place to raise his children. Little Joseph Francis Reagan and the three yet-unnamed Babies Reagan were about to become the fourth generation of Reagans to live within its walls.

* * *

 _Thanks for reading and reviewing!_


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